Wright Together, page 10
It was overwhelming. And as much as I hated the spotlight, it was everything I’d ever wanted.
A round of congratulations. The entire company applauding me. The CEO personally throwing a party for me. I’d thought the corner office was the epitome of the top of my goals, but I needed to have bigger goals.
Once everything quieted down, I stepped into the backstage. I’d been here a few times with West when he was playing the venue, but this time, it was empty. I breathed out a sigh of relief.
Okay, I took it all back. That had been too much. I did not recharge with large crowds. I was way better one-on-one. I could fake it for the crowds, but being alone was definitely better.
The door to the backstage opened behind me, and I prepared to put my peopling face back on.
Then, I heard, “Hey there, handsome.”
“Eve,” I said with relief.
“The man of the hour, hiding out backstage, away from his adoring fans.”
I shrugged. “I didn’t ask for any of that.”
“But you did so well with it.”
“Hmm,” I said with a shrug as she stepped up to me. “But now that you’re here…”
I reached out for her, and she sidestepped with a giggle.
“I actually have a present for you.”
“Oh?” I asked, intrigued.
“Yeah.”
“Is it that dress on the floor?” I teased as I reached for her again.
She backed up again. “Not quite.”
“Hmm,” I said. “Because that’s what I’d like.”
She beckoned me toward her as she backed to the exit. I was mesmerized by this woman and would go wherever she wanted in that moment. I couldn’t deny that I’d rather be doing this than schmoozing, even at my own party.
Her back hit the exit, and she pushed it open. “Well?”
I strode after her as she left the building. I let the door click shut behind me and found her eating up the gravel pathway in her high heels. I caught up to her in a matter of steps, and she smiled up at me with pure abandon.
What must it be like to be Eve Houston? Wild and carefree.
She took my hand when I reached her and picked up her pace. A few minutes later, we came upon the cellar doors, and she pushed them open.
“This way.”
I followed her through the darkened interior. My name was on the building, and I’d never been in here. I could just make out the barrels that held the aging wine. It smelled sweet and rich. The whole place felt more like a dream than reality for someone who worked inside a cinder-block palace.
“What…” I began.
Then, her mouth was against mine, and words left me. Her body pressed me against one of the barrels. My hands came down to her waist, grasping the silky material of her dress. I forgot the intensity of the party for the rush of Eve. Just her in my arms, her red lips tight against mine, her tongue brushing into my mouth.
“Do you want your present?” she rasped in the darkened interior.
“Yes,” I growled.
I would take anything and everything this girl wanted to give me.
Her hands went for my belt buckle. It was undone in a second. She popped the button on my pants, tugged my zipper down, and ripped my shirt out from my waistband. Her nails raked against the exposed skin of my abdomen. I exhaled sharply. My cock responded instantly to her movements. Her hand dived into my boxer briefs and skimmed across the length of my cock. I groaned deep in the back of my throat. My head tipped backward. I’d thought of nothing but this woman for days, and here she was, giving me exactly what I wanted. And yet…
“I thought the dress was going on the floor.”
She withdrew my cock from my boxers. “That’s not my present.”
“What is then?” I asked.
She grinned wickedly as she dragged my pants over my ass. “My mouth.”
Then, she lowered herself to her knees, took my cock in her hand, and brought it to her hot, wet mouth. I swore I saw the stars at the first sweep of her tongue against the head. She drew nearly the entire length of it into her mouth.
I gasped, my hands going into the dark strands of her hair. I fought for control as she pulled back and began to bob on my cock. I watched it disappear into her mouth. The way she worked her lips around the head before lapping back down on the shaft. Her hum of approval as she took it deeper.
I had to hold back. I couldn’t let loose. She wasn’t mine, all mine, yet. She would be if I had it my way. But I couldn’t do all that I wanted when she was still on the edge. If she knew exactly how I wanted to fuck her, would she stay? She hadn’t complained when I stuffed her face into the mattress or when I ate her sweet cunt in the backseat. What else would she approve?
My hands moved of their own accord, taking control of her. She’d been taking her time. A thing that I very much enjoyed, but I needed more. I needed everything.
“So good, baby. You’re doing so good,” I said. “But I need you to take this dick like a good girl.”
She gasped at the first thrust into her mouth. A soft, breathy thing that made me just want to force it out of her again. I was careful though. I didn’t push all the way to the back of her throat. I didn’t wait for her to swallow down the head, like I wanted. I just took a faster pace. Fucked her mouth while she slid one hand back and forth along the shaft and used the other to massage my balls.
“Fuck. Fuck yes,” I groaned.
Everything went white as my climax hit me like a tidal wave. I grunted into the darkened interior of the cellar and emptied into her mouth. My cum hit the back of her throat, and—bless this woman—she didn’t even choke, just swallowed.
I removed my cock from her mouth when she was done. She sat back heavily on her heels and tilted her head up at with a glazed look in her eyes.
I bent down to press a kiss to her lips. “That was perfect.”
“I…” she said shakily. “I…that…”
I grinned. “Yeah. Best present I’ve ever received.”
She laughed and then wiped at the edges of her mouth before slowly coming to her feet again. “I’m a good gift giver.”
“And here I thought, I was going to have to work to get that dress off.”
“It’s still on,” she teased.
I grasped her waist and tugged her against me, swinging us around so her back was against the barrel. “Fine. I’ll just take that wet cunt instead.”
“Oh!”
Then, I hiked her up by her thighs and set her ass down on the barrel behind her. I pushed her panties aside and was inside of her again with one quick thrust.
“Fuck,” she cried out.
She was so fucking wet and tight. I’d thought she’d been ready the first time. Somehow, she was even wetter. She was practically dripping down her thighs with it.
“Did me fucking your mouth get you this hot, baby?”
“Ye-yes.”
I grinned. Maybe she wasn’t going to be so afraid of what else I could give her if that got her this wet. Maybe she’d want more. Maybe she’d want everything, too.
“And are you going to come for me?”
She nodded, her pussy tightening around my cock as I bottomed out deep inside of her. She tilted her head back and came hard and fast. I watched her uninhibited expression as she let go. It was pure ecstasy. I wanted nothing more than to find a way to do it over and over again.
I was hit with the same feeling that I’d had all those months earlier. If I got close to this girl, there was no way that I could survive her. I wanted more than just sex with her. I wanted a relationship. I wanted a future.
I just needed to figure out how to convince her of that.
Part III
Be Here Now
15
Eve
Days later and I still couldn’t stop thinking about Whitt and me in the cellar. Something had clicked together down there. I didn’t know if it was the darkness or the location or just us, but it was beyond mind-blowing. We’d been texting nonstop since then. The messages progressively filthier and more intimate.
The way he’d taken control of my mouth. Jesus fucking Christ, I was a goner. How long had I been looking for someone who knew how to handle me? And somehow, Mr. Responsibility was the one who’d unleashed in that cellar. It was almost unbelievable.
Another text came in from him.
Or you could come over to my place after you finish your showing.
I glanced up at the couple wandering the half-a-million-dollar ranch house in Lakeridge Country Club. They’d been disinterested in the dozen other houses I’d shown them. It was the wrong time to buy, but they’d just moved here from Colorado, and they had a teenage daughter, so they needed to be in the house before school started. Maybe they’d like this one. I certainly did.
I texted Whitt back.
Maybe.
Despite our flirtation, neither of us had been at each other’s place. We hadn’t gone on a date. In fact, I’d purposely made it so we weren’t doing anything that resembled dating. If we were in the same place, that was one thing, but if I went out of my way to see him, that was completely different. That meant more. Right?
Tease.
God, I was.
A tease who was avoiding relationships like the plague. I didn’t want to complicate this thing that had been working so well. Or take a chance to see if it would work. Ugh.
I went to put my phone away when it started ringing. I panicked, thinking it was Whitt. We only texted. Phone calls were more intimate. Phone calls became phone sex, which became us ending up at his house, having real sex.
But it wasn’t Whitt. It wasn’t a client either. It was my sister.
My heart dropped.
“What now?” I muttered under my breath.
I answered the phone. “Hey, Bails.”
“Evie, hope I’m not bothering you.”
I glanced at my clients, still discussing the merits of an open floor plan. I waved the phone at them. The wife shot me a thumbs-up.
“I’m showing a house. What’s up?”
“I just have news. I got a job.”
My brain paused at those words. “You…got a job?”
“Yeah. It’s part-time, nights and weekends.”
“But school is starting in a few weeks.”
“I know, but I’ll be able to do this and school.”
I exhaled slowly through my nose and stepped farther away from my clients. “Bails, we talked about this. You don’t need to get a job. You need to focus on school and getting into college this year.”
“I am. I mean…I will,” she stuttered.
“Did Dad put you up to this?”
She hesitated for a fraction of a second too long, and a fiery pit of anger erupted in my stomach. I tried to force it down. There was only so much that I could do from Lubbock. I felt guilty enough, not being in Midland for Bailey, but this was another line that man was crossing.
“He did, didn’t he?” I asked furiously. “He needs to back off. I am working so that you don’t have to.”
“I want to help. I already owe you so much.”
She sounded so much like the small girl I’d helped raise after our mom ditched us. She might be seven years younger than me, but we’d always been so much closer than other siblings I knew. Gram had done what she could to keep us together after Mom left, and I did what I could for Bailey. Dad certainly wasn’t helpful. The only thing he’d done was keep Gram from getting custody of us both.
Things I couldn’t change or do anything about. It made me want to burn the entire world down.
“You don’t owe me anything. Dad and I have an agreement, Bails.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Is he around? Put him on the phone.”
“He’s not here,” she said with a sigh.
“Then, I’ll call him. You know you have to bring your GPA up if you want to get into college. That’s your entire focus.”
“I know. I know. Okay. Don’t call Dad. I don’t want to have to hear it from him, too.”
“Bails—”
“It’s fine, Evie. I’ll go do my summer reading.”
“Bails,” I repeated with a sigh.
My anger dissipated as soon as it had come. I was left with an exhaustion that I couldn’t escape for the life of me. Running my own life was impossible. Being two hours away and trying to help run Bailey’s was so much worse.
“It’s fine,” she repeated. “I get it. I know what the stakes are.”
“I’m sorry,” I told her earnestly. “I really am. Just stop listening to everything Dad says. You know I’d have you here with me if I could.”
“I know. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I hung up the phone and breathed out heavily. Well, that couldn’t have gone worse. I was too young to be an overbearing parent to my seventeen-year-old sister. Fuck. It had been a while since I’d let this feeling settle over me. I wanted to cry, but I just wasn’t there yet. I needed to process this.
“Eve?” my client called from the other room.
I swallowed back my feelings and strode back into the living room. “Sorry about that. What do you think?”
“We love it,” she said. “We’re going to need to bring our daughter to see it before we put in an offer. Are you free again tomorrow?”
“Sure. Luckily, the sellers have already moved. So, the place is open whenever you’re free.”
“Perfect. We’ll be in touch.”
I shook hands with them both and then walked them to the front. They got into their shiny Audi SUV and drove away while I locked up the house. It was a nice place. Nothing I could afford. Not with everything saddled on my shoulders.
I slid my arms out of my blazer. It was too damn hot out here. I tossed it into the passenger seat of my 4Runner and cranked the air conditioner.
My head tipped back on the headrest, and I fought back tears. God, I hated this. I hated every bit of this. The feeling of helplessness. Like no move I made was forward. It was always a sidestep in an endless game that I was one step away from losing completely.
I didn’t know what to do about Bailey. I didn’t know what to do about Dad. I didn’t know how I could keep going without Gram. I ran my finger across the inside of my bicep, where the words Be here now were written in her familiar scrawl. That had been her motto. The words she’d always used for me when I was struggling. I had to stay here in the moment. I had to keep moving even if it was sideways instead of forward.
My hands shook on the steering wheel. I clenched it harder to try to get them to stop. Usually, Gram’s words helped, but right now, I felt unglued.
“Fuck!” I yelled into the empty vehicle.
I dug my phone back out and opened the last text from Whitt. He’d responded to me a few times while I was inside. Flirty things. I scrolled up and again read the message where he’d invited me over. Maybe…maybe I should do that. Maybe it’d be good to be held by someone right now.
Is that invitation to come over still available?
The response was almost immediate.
Always.
I swallowed and then put the car in drive. Here goes nothing.
I’d never been to Whitt’s place before, but he’d given me the address while we’d been texting as an invitation to come over whenever I wanted. The thought of doing that had crossed my mind many times, but I’d never given in to that urge. Our situationship was good the way it was. Why was I suddenly complicating it? All because Bailey had called? I’d been dealing with that for so long it shouldn’t have bothered me. And still it had.
His house was a new build on the south side of town. Not that far from where I’d been showing houses. It had immaculately cut green grass, even in the blazing August heat. Trees in the front provided some shade. Comfy porch furniture sat in front of the brick house. I passed through the open stone archway and knocked on the black iron door.
Whitt appeared a minute later in very familiar lounge shorts and a gray T-shirt. “Hey, this is a surprise.”
“Hey.”
He opened the door all the way for me. I hesitated on the threshold.
Was I making the right decision here? I didn’t feel like I could come back from this. All those walls that I’d built up between us. I’d spent months denying myself, just to wind up here anyway.
I didn’t have to walk inside. I could stand on this doorstep in the evening heat and talk. I could…turn around and get back in my car and ruin everything. Except I couldn’t do that. Not with his big blue eyes all lit up at the sight of me. That smile, unusually bright. I’d done that. I made him happy. A thing that I found myself enjoying and wanting to continue to do.
Maybe there was an inkling of selfishness in there, too. I wanted to step inside. I wanted to want to step inside. I hadn’t felt that in so long.
“Do you want to come in?” he asked almost hesitantly.
“Sure. Yeah,” I said, realizing that I’d been standing there awkwardly. “Thanks.”
I stepped into the house, and Whitt closed the door behind me. It was everything I’d expected. Hardwood floor, giant open floor plan, carefully selected furniture, and a massive television over the fireplace. The whole place screamed Whitt. Minimalist, clean, everything in its place.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come by.”
“I was nearby.”
Which wasn’t the reason I’d stopped by at all. Work had nothing to do with this.
“How did your showing go? Did they like the house?”
“Yeah. They’re bringing their daughter to look at it tomorrow.”
“That’ll be good for you. Another sale.”
I brushed my hair off of my face. “I don’t really want to talk about work.” The words fell abruptly out of my mouth, but I just couldn’t bullshit. My barometer for small talk was nonexistent on a good day. And today wasn’t a good day.
